Bremerton's gateway getting a weed and trim

LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN
Though slightly obscured by colorful fall foliage, the overgrown median of Bremerton’s southern entrance will be the site of a volunteer effort Saturday to weed and clean the area.

1993: A public meeting in Navy Yard City gets input for the proposal, which required purchasing numerous homes and businesses to create a new four- to six-lane, tree-lined boulevard into Bremerton via the Navy Yard Highway, or Highway 304.

1998:Property acquisition begins on the overall $37 million project — believed at the time to be the city's largest project ever — which would realign and revamp Highway 304 all the way from Highway 3 to the Bremerton ferry terminal.

1999:The first phase, that added a second lane down Burwell Street and installed landscaped curbs and new streetlights, wraps up. The city closes in on the approximately 85 property acquisitions needed for the second and more intensive phase of the project: a new Charlston Boulevard, from Burwell Street at Callow Avenue to Porter Street.

2001:Phase two wraps up and the new Charlston Boulevard is opened, replacing the formerly zigzagging southern entry to the city.

2003:The third phase begins. It widened the section of Highway 304 closest to Highway 3, moved the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard's Missouri gate traffic signal and added landscaping and a decorated retaining wall. Much of the work, however, wouldn't get started until 2007. Total project cost grew to more than $42 million.

2008: The third phase wraps up, also adding an HOV lane for traffic heading out of the city.

The medians that line Bremerton's southern entrance are sorely overgrown.

But help is on the way.

On Saturday, volunteers will fan out along Charlston Boulevard and take on the overgrowth, hacking out weeds and trimming back brush that now spills into the lanes of traffic.

The effort has been spearheaded by resident Jane Rebelowski, who's watched the weedy medians take their toll in various ways. After seeing numerous letters to the editor in the paper complaining about their unsightliness and even hearing from real estate agents that wouldn't take potential homeowners past them, she decided to do something about it.

"So we're gonna get out there and weed and trim," she said.

Crews from the city's street and parks department will join the volunteers, closing the inside lane of traffic in both directions starting around 9 a.m.

The event also coincides with National Make a Difference Day, Rebelowski points out.

The medians were part of the city's more than $42 million Bremerton Gateway project, the plans of which began 20 years ago. The gateway revamped and widened much of Burwell Street and Highway 304. It also created the tree-lined Charlston Boulevard, replacing a zigzagging network of streets with a wide thoroughfare and razing many homes and businesses in its path.

But the state Department of Transportation-designed project also added landscaping maintenance the city doesn't have time to do. Medians, in particular, are tough because lane closures create even more work and planning, said Bremerton Public Works Director Chal Martin.

"A lot of people don't recognize that there is an element of safety that has to be considered," he said. "You have to create a work zone, which ramps up the logistical undertaking."

Volunteers and the city's workforce will start at First Street at Callow Avenue and go as far as possible down the stretch of median. The plan is to get as much done as possible with the resources available.

The winter should keep much of the volunteer work intact. City officials are planning a permanent solution. Ideas on the table include doing a strip of grass or filling in the median with river rock.

Volunteer efforts here and around the city appear to be on the rise. Rebelowski and others have started a Facebook page called Volunteer in Bremerton to network with others for projects large and small.

"I am really excited for Saturday," Parks and Recreation Director Wyn Birkenthal said. "It's great to see the community rally, and we're seeing more and more of that."

And, if that's not enough weeding and pruning for one day, Friends of Kiwanis Park also will till the soil there 9-11 a.m., according to Sunny Wheeler, a city parks commissioner and Bremerton Kiwanis Club president-elect.

WEED THE GATEWAY

WHAT: Volunteers will help clean up the Bremerton Gateway.

WHEN: Beginning 8:30 a.m. Saturday

WHERE: First Street and Wycoff Avenue

DETAILS: Volunteers encouraged to bring small gardening tools, gloves and kneeling pads (some will be provided, as will coffee and cookies).